Ok, I think it's about time for a reunion - any takers?

Here is my belated post. I am happy to announce I've had my mini (aka Goldie Sawng) for 1.5 years with no problem. 4 mgs of pure don't-talk-to-me-on-the-bus Power.

Hard to Love a Man –Magnolia Electric Company
Cool. I like this song—I've been putting it on all my play lists. It sounds kind of like the Will Oldham stuff. Got some violin, then the nice lady starts in with the harmony. Very much kind of sad bastard music. My favorite song on the CD.

Starshine –Gorillaz
I just started listening to this band—they are cartoons, which is a nice quality. Anyway very groovy. This one has kind of creepy voice and she keeps saying Starshine over a slowed down, slick beat. Little Reggae-ish. Seems like a cool song to have on in the back ground while you're having a party. Not my favorite by them, but I like it. I like this band enough to consider cheating on this 5 song in a row thing and putting in a song I like more by them, but I resist.

He Woke Me Up Again – Sufjan Stevens
Oh snap. I love these songs on Seven Swans, so nice and clean. Not so orchestrated. Plus those angelic backup singers. I was asleep and he woke me up again—very nice. I think people are getting tired of him and can see why. Still I think Seven Swans is outside of reproach. These songs are pretty stripped down and refreshing.

Clown Towne – Xui Xui
Now I'm on a roll. Maybe my favorite Xui Xui song and high up there on my list of favorite songs in general. This song is so weird and simultaneously inviting and unnerving. Nice melody/jarring percussion. Dramatic voice/pretty sentimental lyrics “Clowne Towne, single angle. Clown Town, no exit” & among my favorites lyrics anywhere, during a rather chaotic crescendo, “Your true self has become weak and alone and annoying. A true ridiculous dumb ass.” I love it because it's not full of self-loathing, but a more quotidian “why-the-hell-did-i-do-that” kind slap in the forehead. It utterly contrasts the wonderful percussive quality.

Method Man (Skunk Mix) –Wu-Tang Clan
Shit yeah. This song is nice—Method is pretty smooth “Get on down with your bad self” I love some Wu-Tang. Nice to work out to. “A tisket a tasket” That is a good way to end right? Whitey McPoetry listening to the Wu at the Y. M=E=T=H=O=D MAN

Oh Woe is Technology!

Of course you know what happened... I wrote about half my shuffle notes and a few days later my computer crashed & I had to reformat the bum. I'm still recovering! But I've enjoyed the notes, guys. I think my songs were: 1. A Depeche Mode song of their new album, which isn't all that; 2. "Les Succettes," an awsome Serge track from Comic Strips. Good & dirty. 3. Morrissey "Suedehead" -- ah, takes me back. 4. something by Califone. 5. A Joy Division track. Sweet glum!

... Matt, I'm on my third frickn' iPod. I think I'm a magnet for technology bad luck. At least I purchased Apple's extra warranty, so they've replaced the piece of dung for free both times it's gone kurplunk...

I know everyone is a bit scattered all over (mostly in the midwest) but I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays...I was planning on sending holiday cards but I'm a little distracted.

Chris, where did Racine, WI come from?

Along those lines, check out (if you don't know it already), illegal-art.org, a site dedicated to various multimedia collage projects, generally pretty political. It's where I downloaded the Grey Album a few years ago. Their videos are apparently down now, but they should be back up again. You may also enjoy detrius.net.

Found UBU Web, a cool site with tons of mp3s of various avant-garde poems, poets, and chaos. Dada, surrealism, Schwitters' Ursonate, and a million other things. Tons of miscellaneous Ashbery, including a great version of "The Wrong Kind of Insurrance," a lovely poem. And O'Hara reading "Having a Coke With You." CHECK IT OUT!

I suppose it's accessible mainly in the plot. Very straight-forward episodes trying to find who wrote the letter (the letter conceit could be the starting-off point for a Hollywood romantic comedy). There is even the coincidence of the boy looking for his father which seems like a very Hollywoodesque convenient plot turn though it of course doesn't turn out that way. Also the desperation-of-the-suburbs theme, though somewhat refreshing in BF because of the indecisiveness of it. And, Nate, you're right the sparse use of music is fairly a-typical here, as well as the very patient pacing. Of course even that seems as if Jarmusch is channeling the New Wave (if they were all actually dead.) Over all, I think it all works really well but is just more accessible. I almost wondered if this was a conscious choice to hit a larger audience, but from Nikki's parents' reaction it failed if it was. I think the relative tameness of it turned off many of Jarmusch's regular audience though. Still I liked it.

Joe posted this question re: Broken Flowers a while ago.

"And a discussion topic for the non-poets out there too. Have any of you seen Broken Flowers? What did you think? It's more conventional than Jarmusch’s work typically is. Is this good, bad, neutral? I know I tend to think accessibility generally hinders a movie, but it doesn’t really bother me here."

posted by Joseph @ 4:26 PM

We finally saw the movie last week. Funny thing: as accessible as this may be for Jarmusch, it still seems pretty far from fulfilling an audience's Hollywoodod-esque expectations. Nikki's parents saw the movie over the summer and called us immediately to tell us how much they hated it and almost walked out on it!

That gave us a natural predisposition toward liking the film -- but seriously, when we saw it we loved it. It manages to be awkward, sad and funny all at once. The most unconventionalal aspects, I felt, were its relatively low use of dramatic music and its non-closure. I loved both of these aspects -- in fact, I feel like they made the film a success. So I guess I wonder what was it that you saw as the more accessible elements (I realize you meant that in comparison to his other films--the only one of which I've seen is Dead Man Walking); and did anyone see these elements as a problem?